What is a tennis bracelet?

A tennis bracelet is a flexible bracelet that is made from a row of diamonds. Its elegant and simplistic design has ensured it stood the test of time and has been at the height of fashion for the last hundred years.

The history of the tennis bracelet

The legendary bracelet became popular in the 1920’s when platinum and white gold first became common use. Fashionable women would wear them to the most exclusive of occasions. The light, intricate but extremely durable settings allowed the diamonds to be set in such a way that it seemed that the wrist was covered by a single row of suspending diamonds. The newly perfected brilliant cut diamond allowed all diamonds to maximise its play of colour giving an unseen brilliance of light on one’s wrist.

The original name for the bracelet was a rivière bracelet (French meaning river) or riviera bracelet, coined from the Côte d’Azur (French Riviera). It is commonly believed that the inspiration came from the light of the moon playing on the surface of the sea similar to how the brilliant light effect is observed in diamonds.

The term tennis was not coined until approximately 50 years later when fashionable and famous tennis stars started wearing the bracelet during matches. The most famous of which is the story of Chris Evert who wore such a bracelet frequently and during the 1987 women’s US Open, lost it during the match. The match was subsequently put on hold until she could retrieve the bracelet. This is now largely seen as the reason why the bracelet is known as a tennis bracelet.

Large collection of tennis bracelets from Lyppens jewellers

The modern tennis bracelet comes in many different shapes and sizes. Lyppens jewellers has a large collection of the most traditional diamond tennis bracelets. There are many variations on the diamond bracelet available in white, brown, (champagne) and black diamonds. Lyppens jewellers offer all options in different sizes, make bracelets for those who want to stack more than one bracelet and also have tennis bracelets with gemstones such as blue sapphire, pink sapphire, ruby, tsavorite or the entire colour spectrum of sapphire.

Custom design tennis bracelets

All tennis bracelets are made with 18 karat white, yellow or red gold and in different lengths. The sales team can advise you on the best options and the workshop can adjust all the bracelets to all sizes.